The USA has again been our main focal point during May. We’ve rolled out phases three and four of nine releases centred on our Best In State rankings and the process will conclude before the end of August.

We also preview the recently renovated Himalayas nine at Prince’s Golf Club, along with the Glashedy course at Ballyliffin, host to July’s Irish Open. M. James Ward was at the media rollout for the US Junior Amateur at Baltusrol, where it was announced that Gil Hanse has been brought onboard as course consultant. He also played Shinnecock Hills, host to next month’s US Open, and he shines a light on a few of Long Island’s unsung public access courses.

Meanwhile, our Editor has been travelling Europe again, seeking out Lisbon’s genuine golfing gems and he also sampled the recently renovated Mussenden course at Castlerock Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

This is the fourth biennial update of the Best in State rankings which we introduced for the USA in 2012. As we did two years ago, we’re publishing the revised tables for the fifty states in nine geographical divisions over the next few months, continuing with the four West South Central States of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, where only two courses from this region occupy positions in our US Top 100.

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This is the fourth release of nine US divisional Best In State ranking revisions for 2018, covering four East South Central States of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Only one layout from this region – The Honors Course – is currently ranked in the US Top 100, but there are numerous stellar layouts in this region that fly under the radar.

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We were recently invited to play the newly renovated Himalayas nine at Prince’s Golf Club and we’re thrilled to report that the work carried out by the renowned firm of international golf course architects, Mackenzie & Ebert, is of the highest quality. Arguably, the revamped nine is now the best of the three Prince’s 9-hole loops.

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Ballyliffin Golf Club’s Glashedy course stages the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open this coming July – the first time the event has ventured into wild Donegal. We simply had to play the course and enjoy the craic. The Glashedy has been tweaked recently in preparation for the big event and the changes add even more drama to an already exciting layout.

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The recent media rollout for the upcoming US Junior Amateur at Baltusrol provided an interesting peak behind the scenes at the historic Garden State club. But the news went beyond the club's hosting of the Junior event for the first time in club history. Club president Rick Shea announced architect Gil Hanse has been brought on board as course consultant.

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With Royal Portrush and Portstewart co-hosting the 92nd edition of the Boys Amateur in August 2018, the golfing centre of attention in Northern Ireland this year is firmly focused on the east side of the River Bann. On the other side of the river, at the point where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean, Castlerock Golf Club quietly goes about its own business, just as it has ever done since its formation in 1901.

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Portugal is still one of Europe’s top golfing destinations, attracting hundreds of thousands of overseas players to the country every year. In the past, we’ve published features relating to golf facilities in both the north and the south of the nation and this article now looks at what’s in between those regions, around the coastal capital of Lisbon.

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What a difference a day makes, twenty-four little hours (miles)… I allow myself to borrow a (slightly rewritten) line from Dinah Washington’s immortal classic to illustrate that yesterday I played the lovely parkland layout of Wairakei, and the day after the neighbouring moon landscaped Kinloch Golf Club.

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